Design Courses: Eligibility, Admission, Syllabus, Placements

Surobhi Chatterjee

, Feb 28, 2023

There are many Designing courses in India that students can pursue. These Design degree courses deal with concepts related to aesthetics, fine arts, history of design and advertising. All Designing courses are typically job-oriented courses that are offered at Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Doctorate levels. In addition to this, there are numerous diploma courses and online certificates in India to train students in specific skills they need.

Students can pursue Design courses with placement through various streams that are available in India such as Computer Design courses, Electrical Design Courses, VLSI Design courses, Industrial Design courses, CAD Design Courses, and Dress Designing courses. During the Designing course duration, students learn about typography, branding, aesthetics, fashion design, trends and design software. 

Table Of Contents:

• Courses List
• Eligibility for Design Courses
• Admission
• Entrance Exams
• Types of Design Courses
• Top 10 Design Courses in Demand
• Syllabus and Subjects
• Top 10 Design Colleges in India
• Jobs and Salaries
• Scope of Design Course in India
• Top Recruiters
• Skills Required

Design Courses List

The Designing course details can be accessed by the students by visiting the college’s official websites and researching about the specific course. Students can apply for Design courses after 10th and 12th, under graduation or post-graduation based on the Design course qualification they are applying for.

Given below are different types of Design courses that the students can pursue:

• Undergraduate Courses
• Postgraduate Courses
• Diploma/PG Diploma Courses
• Certificate Courses
• Doctorate Courses

Undergraduate Design Courses

There are many different types of design courses in India that can be pursued by students. Undergraduate courses are designing courses after 12th that introduce students to the basic but essential principles of design. The undergraduate courses tend to be around 4 years long and are design courses with a placement year. These types of designing courses in India are provided to students in a wide range of specialisations and topics such as Website Design Courses, Automobile Design Courses, Instructional Design Courses, and Car Design Courses.

Some of the Design courses after 12th include:

• B.Des
• B.Des in Fashion Design
• B.Des in Interior Design
• B.Des in Graphic Design
• B.Des in Animation
• B.Des in Industrial Design
• B.Des in Jewellery and Accessory Design
• B.Des in Textile Design
• B.Des in Ceramic and Glass Design
• B.Des in Fashion Communication

Postgraduate Design Courses

Along with the undergraduate Designing courses list, there are many postgraduate courses that can be undertaken by the students. These designing courses after graduation aim to provide the students with an in-depth understanding and analysis of the specialisations that they pursue at the undergraduate level. Most master’s courses tend to be of two years duration/

Given below are some of the popular postgraduate Designing courses list that the students can enrol in:

• M.Des
• M.Des in Fashion Designing
• M.Des in Graphic Designing
• M.Des in Interior and Furniture Design
• M.Des in Animation
• M.Des in Industrial Design
• M.Des in Jewellery and Accessory Design
• M.Des in Textile Design
• M.Des in Ceramic and Glass Design
• M.Des in Fashion Communication

Diploma/PG Diploma Design Courses

Many students may opt to apply for diploma courses over an undergraduate or postgraduate course, as diploma courses are short, quick and money-saving courses. There are plenty of Diploma Design courses that can be accessed by the students that aim to help students learn about topics in great detail.

Some of the best diploma Design courses, universities in India provided are listed below:

• Diploma in Design
• Diploma in Interior Design
• Diploma in Fashion Design
• Diploma in Graphic Design
• Diploma in Jewellery Design
• Diploma in Animation and Multimedia
• Advanced Diploma in Fashion Design
• Advanced Diploma in Interior Design
• PG Diploma in Fashion Designing
• PG Diploma in Interior Designing

Certificate Design Courses

There are many Design certificate courses that the students can enrol in. The primary purpose of a certificate course is to help the students gain in-depth knowledge in a specialised field in a short period of time. The certificate courses are often provided by industry-relevant employers or educational institutions. Given below are some of the top certificate courses in Design that the students can take:

Offline Design Courses:

• Certificate in Graphic Design Workshop
• Certificate in Computer Aided Jewellery Design
• Certificate in Computer Aided Graphic Design
• Certificate in Computer Aided Fashion Design
• Certificate in Fashion Design
• Certificate in Jewellery Design
• Certificate in Interior Design
• Certificate in Furniture Design
• Certificate in Product Design
• Certificate in Set Design
• Certificate in Fashion Styling and Draping
• Professional Certificate in Fashion Design
• Professional Certificate in Advertising and Graphics

Online Design Course:

• Graphic Design Certification
• Interaction Design
• UI/UX Design
• Intro to Cinema 4D
• Visual and Graphic Design
• Web Design Course
• Graphic Design Bootcamp
• UX and Web Design
• Illustrator CC
• Design Fundamentals

Doctorate Design Courses

When pursuing design courses, students also have the scope to apply for doctorate courses. Doctorate courses are courses that the students can apply for after graduation. These are advanced research-oriented courses. The doctorate courses give the students a chance to learn about topics in great detail and learn about different research methods and techniques. By utilising all the research methodologies, students can further develop their own research skills on a specific topic. 

PhD in Design: A PhD in Design combines creativity with practical skills to form a versatile degree program. The specific areas you study will depend on which fields and disciplines are related to your personal goals. It is possible to study everything from painting or lighting to animation or graphic design.

Eligibility for Design Courses

Admission in Designing courses depends on the type of course that the students are applying for.

• The eligibility for undergraduate courses is that the students should ensure that they obtain a minimum of 50% in their 10+2 from a recognised board. 
• For the Postgraduate courses, it is vital that the students receive a minimum of 60% in their Undergraduate degree. 
• For the Doctorate courses, it is vital that the students receive a minimum of 60% in their postgraduate degree. 

Hence it is vital that the students research about the Designing course eligibility when applying for the course of their choice. Integrated Design courses may have slightly more relaxed eligibility than others.

Design Courses Admission

For admission to a Design course in India, students need to research both the merit-based selection process and the entrance requirements. Many institutes in India conduct entrance exams to select their final list of students. The students can avail themselves of admissions through both online and offline methods.

For the online method, students must enquire at the official website of the colleges they are applying to. For offline means, they would be required to visit the college's admission office in person.

Design Courses Entrance Exams

Entrance exams play an important role for the students when applying for Design courses in India. Entrance exams are a means for colleges to select the best candidates for their courses. These entrance exams can be conducted at a national level, state level or college level. 

Given below are some of the top exams that are conducted for admissions to the different Design colleges in India:

• NIFT
• UCEED
• CEED
• NID DAT
• SEED
• AIEED
• PAF
• FDDI AIST
• IIAD

Types of Design Courses (Specialisations)

Design is a broad and diverse subject of study, and hence the students have the scope to study a wide range of topics in it. Jewellery Design Courses, Game Design Courses, Product Design Courses, Textile Design Courses, and System Design courses are a few of the many specialisations that can be pursued by the students under design.

These broad topics are further divided into several branches, which are then divided into disciplines that the students can study. Below are some of the popular fields under Design that can help students decide what they want to pursue in their careers.

Fashion Design

Fashion Designing is one of the most popular Design specialisations among students. Every year thousands of candidates apply at different Fashion Design colleges across the country with an aspiration to become a successful fashion designers in the future.

Graphic Design

Graphic design is a craft where professionals create visual content to communicate messages. By applying visual hierarchy and page layout techniques, designers use typography and pictures to meet users' specific needs and focus on the logic of displaying elements in interactive designs, to optimise the user experience.

Interior Design

Interior designing deals with making interior spaces more attractive and smart with structure, colour schemes, furnishings, and decorations. Through the courses, students are taught all techniques and materialistic knowledge of interior design.

Web Design

A Web Designing course belongs to the field of Computer Science and IT. It enables students to learn various techniques, tools and programming languages in order to create and maintain web pages.

UI UX Design

The UI/UX Design Specialisation brings a design-centric approach to user interface and user experience design and offers practical, skill-based instruction centred around a visual communications perspective, rather than one focused on marketing or programming alone. There is only a certificate course provided in this stream.

Top 10 Design Courses in Demand

Design courses can be pursued by students at all levels of education. They can decide to pursue it at Diploma, Certificate, Undergraduate or Postgraduate level. Given below are the top ten Design courses that are in demand along with their duration.

Design Course Syllabus and Subjects

The Design course syllabus is designed to ensure that the students gain all the vital knowledge they need to get to build a rewarding career path for themselves. Although the detailed syllabus of every design course will vary a bit as they are of different duration and value, they all contain the important Design course subjects.

The curriculum integrates a variety of management, research and scientific knowledge that will enable the students to learn about concepts in detail. Given below are some of the generic topics that the students may be taught during their Design course education:

• Design Process
• History of Design
• Typography
• Introduction To Image Making
• Introduction To Colour Theory
• Trend Forecasting
• Introduction to Fashion Design & Fashion Technology
• Image Layout & Grids
• Visual Communication Theory
• Print Media and Design
• Web Design

 Top 10 Design Colleges in India

Many top colleges such as NID, IIT etc provide design courses in India. Given below are the top colleges along with their Design course fees in India:

Design Course Jobs and Salaries

The Design course job opportunities in India are very rewarding and promising for the students. There is a high demand for designers in the country and since the education provided to the students is very industry-relevant, the Design course salary is also very attractive for aspiring Designers.

Listed below are some of the popular job roles along with their average salaries:

Scope of Design Course in India

The Design course scope is very attractive and promising in India. With the growing media industry in India, design students have a number of career options. From graphic designers to UI consultants and the likes of a Media Manager, there are plenty of options to choose from. 

Design is a popular career option in India that provides aspirants with the opportunity to work in a wide number of fields including advertising agencies, news channels, print media, and start-ups. Additionally, freelancing is quite popular amongst design students.

Top Recruiters

Design courses in India provide students with ample job opportunities with a very bright future. Listed below are some of the top recruiters in India.

• FoxyMoron
• Dentsu International
• SocialBeat
• Ogilvy
• Edelman
• NDTV News
• WION
• Hindu News
• Times Of India

Skills Required in Design Courses

Owing to the relevance of the education, the students have access to all the Skills Required in Design Courses and hence they have a promising scope for themselves.

• Communication Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Management Skills
• Multitasking
• Patient Counselling
• Gaining Knowledge